Joshua's Fourth Birthday!

Okay, time to do a little catching up here. I want to have this blog made into a book so I need to make sure I have included certain special occasions. Special occasions like Joshua's fourth birthday! Hooray!

Joshua requested a Texas Fudge Cake for his birthday. Lucky me! It's cheap, easy and delicious!


Joshua wanted a bowling set for his birthday.

So, that's what he got of course! It's fun to set up the pins at the end of the hallway and bowl down the hall. The hard part is keeping Ethan out of the way.

And yes, this is the best picture I have of Joshua and his bowling set. But you know, sometimes when you are just so VERY happy, your big smile pushes your eyes closed.

I love you Joshua! You are so very easy to love.

Yoga with a Twist

Here is another item to add to my "Things I'm Grateful For" list. When my back is aching, this Yoga video keeps me from being a cripple. These days my lower back has been hurting so much that I have to do Yoga first if I plan to get any chores done. What a difference it makes!

What's the twist you ask? Yoga with a one year old and a three year old! Joshua often asks me, "Want to do yogo?" Here's how it works:

1. While doing any standing position with your legs spread out, have your little ones crawl back and forth between your legs. Beware: They might accidentally bump into you.

2. Let your little ones play with your yogo bricks when you are not using them. When you need them, just ask your little ones to bring your bricks back and maybe they will.

3. Be sure to share your yoga mat. Adjust your poses accordingly.

4. When you are preparing for locust pose, don't worry about lifting up your head. Your little ones will do that for you by pulling on your hair to lift your head.

5. When you are using your brick, let your little ones try to knock the brick out from under your hands. This is a fun game for them and will count as quality time with your children.

Well, there you have it! I hope you try out Yoga with a Twist! Let me know how it goes!

Hide and Seek

I sat down on my bed after picking the children up from school and thought about how tired I was. So, I said to myself, "You should listen to your body and just lay down for a minute."

Those who really know me know that I do not take naps. I wake up from naps feeling absolutely horrible-- tired, grumpy, nauseous and like I have the flu. My children's doctor asked me when Joshua was born if I was taking naps while Joshua slept and was surprised that I never take naps. I told her how I feel when I wake up and she said, "You know what that means don't you?" I didn't. She said, "It means that you are very sleep deprived." Who knew?

I have been sleep deprived for years even when I'm sleeping 8-9 hours a night due to lack of restorative sleep that my doctor is now trying to remedy, but I never knew that's why I can't take naps.

Anyway, Joshua came in my room looking for me a minute or so after I laid down. I couldn't see him because I was laying on my side facing the other way but I heard him go right past me to my bathroom door and then head back out of my room. I thought, "Wow. He's going to let me rest."

Then I hear, "He's (Translation: She's) got to be here somewhere." Enjoying this little game, I of course remained still. Ethan found me about 30 seconds later followed by Joshua and well, so much for my rest but I did have a laugh and for some reason, laughing seems to have restorative powers too!

My YouTube Junkie

Last week I introduced Joshua to YouTube Disney Halloween cartoons. Now he keeps asking to watch videos on John's laptop and he even navigates YouTube by himself with supervision. (I do NOT consider YouTube to be a safe website for children to freely browse!) This is one of his favorites. It is the Silly Symphony Skeleton Dance. Your children might enjoy it too. But, BEWARE, they might become YouTube Junkies too! Consider yourselves forewarned!

Carter Mountain Orchard

Joshua, Ethan and I went to Carter Mountain last month for a field trip organized for preschool mothers in the ward. We had a great time! We went on a wagon ride, enjoyed delicious apple donuts and apple peach cider, and picked apples right off of the trees! I had to lift Joshua above my head for him to reach the apples so my T-shirt got all muddy and I had to stop at the grocery store with mud on my chest. I figured, "Oh well, they'll know I'm a mother."


And we came home with two whole bags of Golden Delicious apples. Yummy! Fresh apples really do taste best! We even made some apple fritters one Sunday morning.

First Day of School

Well, Jack and Abby are off to school for another great year! They both love school. I must say, I love having my children home for the summer but the quiet I enjoyed today in my home was quite nice.

Abby started First Grade today so she received her Schultuete! Being able to continue our German traditions is so much fun! John created this cone for Abby. Isn't he awesome?

Jack just started Fourth Grade!
Joshua... well... he could be starting preschool in October if only he would decide to be potty-trained!

Ethan just likes to wear the extra cone we made on his head and walk around the room! I have had trouble catching him on camera though but I hope to get a better shot or even a video to share with you soon!

Motherhood and Keeping it Real

We all want to be perfect mothers! Of course, we realize that we can't be perfect so we try to hide our weaknesses from others-- lest they find out we are not the perfect mothers we want to be! Because of this, we all think that the other mothers are better than us! This has even lead to depression in some women that I know. I am trying to make sure that my blogging is real and shows my struggles with motherhood and homemaking. I am trying to "Keep it Real."

Today Joshua and Abby begged to help me put the chocolate chips in the pancakes on the griddle. I told them "no" and explained to them that it was hot and I didn't want them to get burned. They continued to beg and I decided that it would probably be okay since they just had to reach over and drop the chocolate chips onto the half cooked pancakes. On Joshua's second pancake, he dropped a chocolate chip that landed on the stovetop. He immediately went to grab it burning his hand on the griddle. He has a very painful burn that he pretty much kept in cool water for 3 hours. He would go off to play and then run back to the bowl saying "ouch" or "my hand is burning." I called the doctor who wants to see him in the morning and told us to put antibiotic cream on it (not ointment which I have in the house but cream which John had to drive 30 minutes into town to pick up). Joshua seems to be doing better now so I'm hoping he'll sleep okay through the night.

Oh, I almost forgot the cute part of this story! As soon as John came home, I asked him to give Joshua a blessing. John told Joshua he was going to say a prayer. Joshua said "okay" and then proceeded to say a prayer asking Heavenly Father to bless his hand. The faith of little ones always puts tears in my eyes!

My Dancing Boys

In this house we love to listen to music and dance and be silly! Ethan has figured out how to add arm movements to his dancing. Here is a video of Joshua and Ethan dancing. Enjoy!

Sibling Rivalry DOES Help Prepare Us For Parenthood!

As children, my sister and I learned how to sit on each other in a way that would allow us to hold down our "enemy" while allowing both of our hands to be free. You probably know the move too. The "enemy" is on her back. You straddle her with your knees holding down her arms.

Joshua sometimes gives me a hard time when I am trying to brush his teeth. This too may sound familiar to you. : ) We all know how important dental hygiene is to our health. So, I have discovered that I can sit on Joshua in the manner described above and brush his teeth while he laughs about it. (Don't worry, he is so tiny that I don't actually have to put any of my weight on him.)

Isn't it great how we can use the things we learned as children to help us in these situations?

Can You Figure Out How Well Potty Training Is Going?

I noticed Joshua bending over a little and pushing so we had the following conversation:

Me: Joshua, don't poopie in your diaper. Poopie in the potty so we can make cookies.

Joshua: No, I don't want to poopie in the potty. I want to poopie in my diaper.

Me: Don't you want to make cookies?

Joshua: I don't want a cookie. I want a poopie diaper.

Joshua to the Rescue!

"Oh no! Jack is at Nana’s house! He’s sick! We have to go get him! The blue car will go rescue Jack!" (He was playing with a blue car.)

Spring Break Bowling!

My children only made one request for Spring Break and that was to go bowling. They love to go bowling so we try to go about twice a year. (It's really expensive!) Abby even came to me and said that she would like to contribute $5 towards bowling and then Jack and Joshua each contributed $5 too! (My children each have a wallet where they keep any money they get. This way if they want something like a toy or special treat, they can buy it with their own money. I RARELY buy them toys unless it's a birthday gift or other holiday gift. This has really helped them understand money and how to save for what we want!)

We had a lot of fun bowling! Bowling with a three year old can be a little embarrassing though. If we weren't careful while helping him, the ball wouldn't roll fast enough and it would stop in the middle of the lane. Then an alley worker would come to get the ball for us! Joshua had a great time and even bowled two whole games without wanting to quit!

Abby's ball even jumped the bumper once! Look at her! She has such a fun personality!

Here's a video of Jack bowling!

John and I bowled with Daniel and Karen who were visiting. I even won the second game when I bowled 4 strikes in one game! Go Heidi!!!

It was a fun night for everyone!

Look! I dressed myself!

Joshua dressed himself and I think he did a great job! Definitely picture worthy! Go Joshua! You are awesome!

This one is for you Nana!

Since Christmas vacation Joshua can't stop talking about going to Nana's. Many a night when it starts to get dark outside, you can hear these words, "It's dark outside. We need to go to Nana's." We usually leave after dark when we go to Virginia Beach. If it is Joshua's turn to say the dinner prayer or the family prayer, you will surely hear about Nana's house no less than 3 times per prayer. Now if we could only convince Nana and Papa to move closer!

Fun in the Snow!

Okay, so these pictures are from January and now it is March. I really agree with "Better late than never" in this case so here they are!

We all played in the snow this day. My children were excited about me coming out because last year I was pregnant and didn't go out much. Why bother if you can't go sledding at top speed down the hill just to throw yourself off of the sled before it goes over the drop off and into the woods???

This was Ethan's first time in the snow! He really enjoyed it and smiled a lot. When my other children were first introduced to the snow, they were curious but didn't really smile and eventually cried to go back inside. Ethan stayed outside for at least twice as long as the others did as babies.

He even let us lay him down in the snow and help him make a snow angel!

We actually didn't get much snow this winter and the children are disappointed. Abby keeps commenting on the lack of snow and I'm sure I'll continue to hear about it for a few more months or even until next winter!

At least they didn't lose any of their Spring Break like they usually do. My parents are going on a cruise for Spring Break so we are staying home the whole time. We hope to go bowling as a family on the discount day.

Fun, fun, fun!

Joshua goes potty!

I was fixing dinner when Abby came to me and said, "Mommy, Joshua pulled his pants down and took off his diaper!" Of course, I went to see what was going on. Joshua was in the living room and I asked him, "Do you need to go potty?" He didn't answer so I picked him up and went into the bathroom. There was already pee in his potty! He uses the potty when I ask him to and sometimes tells me he needs to go but this is the first time he has taken care of things by himself. Go Joshua!

Later on, I asked Joshua if he needed to go potty and he did so I took him into the bathroom. He took off his diaper and then went pee standing up! It was so funny because he uses a little potty! I've never seen a child do that before. I guess he must have seen Jack peeing standing up at some point but I don't know when because Jack is actually quite private about these things. Today Joshua sat down about half of the time and stood up about half of the time. I've figured out that rewarding him with a piece of chocolate helps him remember to go!

Three Boys in a Room!

Ethan has been sleeping in his Papasan swing since he was born because it was the only way he would sleep well. His doctor told me it was perfectly fine to keep him sleeping in the swing but that now might be a good time to try moving him to his crib before he gets more stubborn.

I wasn't expecting it to go very smoothly but he has done very well! His crib is in the same room as his two older brothers so it is a little tricky.

We have been putting Joshua and Ethan to bed at the same time. Joshua turns on his aquarium music and Ethan will just lay there listening to it until he falls asleep. I can actually leave him in his crib AWAKE!!! He usually sleeps from 8:30 PM to 5:00 AM. What a good little baby!